If you’ve been keeping track at all, the NFC North has only won one Super Bowl title in the past 12 years (Green Bay, Super Bowl XLV) and Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota have only one championship between them. What they do have on their sides is raw star power.

The North has a real gem in the league’s top receiver, Calvin Johnson, superstar running back Adrian Peterson, who superseded his position last season in the field, and without question its top notch quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. If those players weren’t enough, the league also has Julius Peppers, Clay Matthews, Jared Allen and Brandon Marshall. The NFC North is certainly a force to be reckoned with in terms of talent.

While Green Bay might be the favored for the 2013 season, there are so many possibilities with the way that this season could end up. There are probably four possibly playoff teams and on the flip side, at least three that could totally tank.

With the hire of new head coach Trestman, a sea change in approach for the Bears has been launched. Trestman got rid of former coach Lovie Smith’s defense-first philosophy and implemented a CFL-honed offensive stylings. Things should go better for Cutler this year, but with so much change, anything is possible. The Bears will be quite formidable with the football, especially with Martellus Bennett. While defense last year was a top 5 set, Trestman has his work cut out for him this year. Things look very good for the Bears in 2013.

The Lions should be pretty middle of the pack this season. Hopefully somewhere between their 2012 and 2011 seasons. The players to watch are Stafford, Johnson and Bush, and especially Ryan Broyles. The offensive line and defense are still worrisome. While this seasons seems markedly improved over last year’s, playoff potential still seems questionable.

Thought Green Bay won a second straight division title, last season was annoying for the Packers. They couldn’t match up against the NFL’s elite, ending in a 45-31 playoff loss to San Francisco. While they are down a couple decent players this year, like Jennings, the Packers seem to be better poised. GB added a few superb run-game players, and Rodgers will be that much more of a threat. Green Bay once again seems to be the the team to beat in this division and an almost expected Super Bowl contender.

Adrian Peterson totally ran the show last year. While he is a phenomenal player, the rest of the team needs to pull their weight if they want to keep ahead of the Bears and the Lions and beat the Packers in order to become Super Bowl contenders. Things are stacking up well for the Vikings, if Ponder and Cassel can keep the team in line and quit with the excuses. The Vikings are capable to go the distance this season, but there is not much room for error.

What do you think of how the teams are looking in the NFC North for 2013?

It’s no secret that popular teams in major sports markets like the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago, Bears, New England Patriots, NY Giants, NY Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers etc., all demand top dollar for tickets regardless of competitiveness. However, ticket price is often dependent upon not just the popularity of the team but also the success. Although any team with strong fan support that is a legitimate Super Bowl contender is likely to have some rather pricey tickets on the secondary market, many ticket speculators often forget that even less popular teams with small fan bases can see major spikes in ticket prices during seasons in which they are contending for a playoff spot.

Below we break down the Top 10 NFL teams in terms of anticipated ticket demand. Obviously, these rankings are largely based on popularity and fan support but preseason outlook is also given considerable weight in our analysis.

2012 NFL Preseason Power Rankings

1. Green Bay Packers

The Packers may not be in a large market but they more than make up for that with the passion of their fan base. The Packers may have fallen short in their quest to repeat as Super Bowl Championship but Aaron Rodgers and company should be back in the mix once again.

2. New England Patriots

The Patriots are ranked either #1 or #2 in most preseason rankings and should be in contention for another Super Bowl if Tom Brady can stay healthy. We all know how sports crazy the Boston area is…

3. New York Giants

The Giants are the defending Super Bowl Champs in the largest city in the US…enough said.

4. Denver Broncos

The Broncos surprised a lot of people last year with a less than spectacular Tim Tebow at the helm. The arrival of Peyton Manning has Bronco fans very excited and it is already reflected in tickets prices for 2012-13 games.

5. Chicago Bears

Fans in Chicago are extremely excited to see what Jay Cutler can do with a bonafide #1 WR in Brandon Marshall. With an aging Bears defense this might be do or die time for the franchise.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers always seem to be competitive and always sell out Heinz Field. There is no reason to think that will change this year.

7. Detroit Lions

The Lions made a big return to relevancy last year. Football fans in Detroit love their Lions and they should have plenty to cheer about with a nasty defense and a dynamic offense led by Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson.

8. San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers were the sleeper team last year. As such they quickly rebuilt a fan base that left them after the Joe Montana – Steve Young eras after finishing 13-3. The 9ers should be a force again this year with the top defense in the NFC.

9. Philadelphia Eagles

Many expected the Eagles to be a Super Bowl contender last year after lining up a dream team of free agents. However, last year was a complete disaster proving once again you can’t buy a championship. However, the Eagles have too much talent to be held down any longer. Combine that with the ravenous fans in Philly and ticket demand will be considerable.

10. New York Jets

J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets fans always come out and support their team. While they aren’t likely to be in any conversations about the Super Bowl, they should contend for a Wildcard spot. Should QB Mark Sanchez go down and Tim Tebow take over…look out!

Sleeper Team: Washington Redskins – If RG3 can be half as effective as Cam Newton was in his rookie campaign, the Redskins could contend for a playoff spot. Skins fans have been itching to get behind this team and a return to relevancy could mean a huge spike in ticket prices.

Well, after a bit of a Holiday break we are back to breaking down our top events this week. Since, often times the ‘weekend’ misses out on some big events that happen during the week we will be going with a slightly new format and will move the post to Mondays starting next week. Mondays’ posts will cover the upcoming events that will take place during the week (Tuesday – Monday). For those of you unfamiliar with our top 10 lists, we analyze data from our partner website Tickifieds to rank events by using a combination of page views, search queries, and unique visitors. So with this weeks edition of Top Events we will be looking at the 2nd week of January 2012 and will include all events from Tuesday January 2nd through Monday January 9th.

Top Events 2012 Week 2 (1/2/2012 to 1/9/2012)

No surprise the highly anticipated rematch between the LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide with a National Championship on the line comes in at #1. This game will feature multiple future NFL players in what is expected to be a great game between two college football power houses

The Cotton Bowl comes in at #2 and is the only other bowl game featuring two top 10 teams in the Arkansas Razorbacks and Kansas State Wildcats. Ticket demand for this game has been extremely strong with only the BCS Championship outranking it this bowl season.

The Denver Broncos are in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The polarizing Tim Tebow has raised the interest level in Broncos football considerably since taking over the quarterbacking duties. Not only is the Broncos season on the line but also the future for the Broncos at the QB spot. A Broncos loss and many speculate that GM John Elway will looking in another direction.

The Houston Texans are in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. As such fans are excited and actively seeking out tickets. The only question is who is going to play QB after rookie T.J. Yates went down with a shoulder injury in the season finale.

The Saints have looked impressive of late and will be looking to get back to the Super Bowl following Drew Brees record breaking season. It all starts with the NFC Wildcard game against the Detroit Lions.

The Giants squeaked into the NFC playoffs but have a favorable matchup against an unimpressive Atlanta Falcons team. New York football fans love their Giants and Eli Manning and company could just keep their Super Bowl hopes alive even if just for 1 more week.

College basketball is always pretty big in the Atlanta area. Since none of the Georgia schools are looking all that good it seems fans are excited to see the the #5 Duke Blue Devils invade Philips Arena

The 2012 NFL regular season has come to a close and the playoff matchups are all finalized. The NFC side of the playoff bracket came down to the final game of the season as the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night footbal. With the win the NY Football Giants are headed to the playoffs as the NFC East Champions. As such, the G-Men will be the #4 seed and will host the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium (formerly known as the New Meadowlands).

At the top of the Bracket both the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints were victorious. That means the 49ers get the #2 seed and a first round by over the Saints despite the fact they both finished the season with an impressive 13-3 record. The 49ers win the tie-breaker with a better NFC record (10-2 vs 9-3). The Saints will play the #6 seeded Detroit Lions at the newly renamed Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans next weekend.

One of the biggest sales days for NFL tickets is on the final Sunday of the regular season as the playoff teams and their match-ups will be decided. Without the seedings for the 2012 NFL playoff set in stone, fans are reluctant to buy tickets for games that might not take place (even though refunds are typically given). However, marketing professionals of event tickets would be wise to start promoting playoff tickets as soon as possible. Although the rush of fans trying to secure tickets doesn’t happen until after the action has commenced, the search engines are already out crawling and ranking webpages for keywords that have yet to gain popularity. You can be one step ahead of the competition if you start targeting these keywords and building links ahead of time.

The easiest way to stay ahead of the competition is to know your playoff scenarios and tie-breaker rules. To save you some time we have provided you with the latest information on where the teams stack up for the 2012 NFL Playoffs

New England Patriots (12-3) – Will have at least 1 home playoff game as they have clinched a 1st round bye. Can clinch home field advantage in the AFC Championship game with a win over buffalo. Baltimore Ravens (11-4) – The Ravens need a win to secure a 1st round bye and home field advantage. If they lose they will be a Wildcard team and not get a home game (at least in round 1).Pittsburgh Steelers (11-4) – They need a win this week and a Ravens loss to secure a home playoff game. If that doesn’t happen they will be a Wildcard team and play on the road.Houston Texans (10-5) – Will have at least 1 home playoff game as the AFC South Champs. A win in week 17 team will help secure home field for a possible second round match-up.Denver Broncos (8-7) – Will win the AFC West and get a 1st round home game if they win or Oakland loses on Sunday.Oakland Raiders (8-7) – Could get a home game with a win on Sunday and a Denver loss. Otherwise, they will have to hope for a wildcard berth if both the Bengals and Titans lose.Cincinnati Bengals (9-6), Tennessee Titans (8-7) and New York Jets (8-7) – The Bengals control their own destiny. A win and they are in. If not, the Raiders, Titans and Jets have an opportunity to sneak in. None of these teams can get a home game.

NFC Playoffs

Green Bay Packers (14-1) – Have a bye in the 1st round but have clinched home field advantage through the NFC Championship game. San Francisco 49ers (12-3) – The 49ers need a win (or a Saints loss) to secure a 1st round bye. Regardless, they will have home field advantage in the first round. New Orleans Saints (12-3) – They need a win this week and a 49ers loss to secure a 1st round bye. If that doesn’t happen they will still have home field advantage in round 1.Detroit Lions (10-5) and Atlanta Falcons (9-6) – Both teams are locked in as wildcard teams and will not have a home game unless they meet in the NFC Championship game.New York Giants (8-7) and Dallas Cowboys (8-7) – These two teams are playing each other on Sunday and will determine who’s in and who’s out. The winner goes to the playoffs as the NFC East Champs with a 1st round home game… the loser goes home. A true do or die game between these two rivals.

No matter what happens on Sunday ticket sales are expected to be big following the games. If you are looking to buy or sell tickets to the NFL playoffs be sure to check out Tickifieds!